Weren't the Dahlquist DQ-10's OB on all but the woofer. I think they put some wool or something behind the other drivers, but the back of the cabinet was an open grill. Driven with a good amp, I liked the sound of the DQ's. The bottom was a bit weak, and they offered a sub option, but did not hear them with a sub.
They didn't deal very well with the bass. Trying to keep the efficiency up, probably. You can't do that and get a good tonal balance.
How about Magnepan and Quad, just to mention two? Not Titans of the speaker industry?
Could it be also their aluminum driver ? Non-paper woofers sound correct, but dry...
I agree, all true points. But, i want to make it LOUD and clear --- my point is not that these big companies dont make OB instead of their boxes, but rather..... why not even One, single one model in their line up is not OB? Sure, they will sell boxes to 99% of customers. But why not make one big expensive model with open bass , even if mids are in a box?
Wow, its ugly, but i actually like it! it has a very non-Magico looks 😉No. Only the Philips midrange is OB.
dave
- They sound natural.
- The worst quality of the speaker , to me, is boomy bass. If the speaker is bright, i can EQ this somewhat. But boominess, of course depends on room also, is a major flaw.
- Sadly i was not able to hear Transmission line speakers, cant compare
- no box resonances
According to many, Nola are one of the most correct sounding speakers out there. Perhaps its the result of a following mix:
- alnico midranges
- in open baffles
- they use multiple mid drivers
The other , highly regarded brand, but not widely known is Zellaton. As far as I know from Internet, their cabinet is a blend of long U frame and aperiodic vented cabinet. Whole back of the cabinet has a grill, i guess damped with wool. Usually, aperiodic cabinets have much smaller vents, like Dutch and Dutch monitors.
Because almost no one wants them. Apart from DIY and the various planars, show me one that's been commercially successful. I'll wait...
Jamo are defunct in OBs because of sales. Legacy are very clever designs but they don't work without the DSP and that puts lots of potential customers off. Aries Cerat mainly sell to the jewellery market and their speakers are generally ugly except to those who view them as an architectural statement. They also can't perform all that will in the midbass and down; not enough Vd. The engineering problems of OB are well known and understood, and once you solve that you then have the size, cost and domestic acceptance issues.
It's really hard to make money in the speaker field especially of you want bass where you need to move air and people want small cheap speakers. I know this as I've been designing for years and more than once ran the numbers, with people more qualified in this arena than myself (business end) and it was about the same as being a stadium rock act starting now. Possible but unlikely.
Having heard the opinions of the anonymous 'many' for decades, I'd need to hear them myself.
That said, even if they are spectacular, they are huge, expensive, ugly to many and need a lot of room floor space. How many of these systems are actually sold? I bet not that many.
That’s a bummer I never got to hear the Nola speakers.😞. I did like the looks of them.😁.
Very unfriendly looks but, I kinda like the way they are built. 😊. I wonder they sounded?No. Only the Philips midrange is OB.
dave
I don't have direct experience with those, so don't know. But for decades they were all dipole. Open Baffle in the form of planars has done well over the decades.
The photo is missing the grill. They looked pretty cool. Even the back had a open grill and I never looked that closely, so never noticed much except the pieces of wood with no box mounting 4 drivers staggered. They sounded good, but as I said before, only with a good amp. I guess all those drivers made for a bumpy load. The ones I saw were in around 78. Not sure when they discontinued them.
Wow you were able to see them in person and listen to them. That’s awesome. Thanks for the insightful experience. 😁